Extensibility

In this section you will find information about the following:

• CtAPI

• Graphics Builder Automation Interface

• Using External Databases

• Exchanging Data with Other Applications

• Integration with Historian

• Using Microsoft Excel to Edit DBF Tables

• Use an OPC AE Server

• Use an OPC DA Server.

Components

You can also extend Plant SCADA using the following languages and libraries:

• Cicode

  Cicode is a programming language designed for use in Plant SCADA to monitor and control plant equipment. It is a structured language similar to Visual Basic or C.

  For more information, see Cicode Reference.

• .Net Libraries

  You can incorporate .Net objects into a project, allowing you to extend Plant SCADA with components that have been developed externally.

  To add .Net objects to your project, see Cicode Reference.

• ActiveX Objects

  You can incorporate ActiveX objects into a project, allowing you to use extend Plant SCADA with components that have been developed externally.

  For example, you can:

  • Add an ActiveX object to a graphics page (see Add an ActiveX Object)

  • Call an ActiveX object using Cicode (see ActiveX Functions in the Cicode Reference).

    Note: ActiveX objects are not supported on a 64-bit process, such as an alarm server operating in Extended Memory mode. If a call to an ActiveX Cicode function occurs from a 64-bit process, an error code will be returned, a hardware alarm will be raised and the Cicode thread will stop.

• VBA

  You can use VBA to extend Plant SCADA. VBA is a Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) and VBScript-compatible Basic scripting language. Plant SCADA has embedded support for VBA.

  For more information, see VBA Programming Reference.

  Note: VBA is not supported on a 64-bit process, such as an alarm server operating in Extended Memory mode. If a call to a VBA Cicode function occurs from a 64-bit process, an error code will be returned, a hardware alarm will be raised and the Cicode thread will stop.